911 changed the way we looked at the world didn’t it? It changed our perspectives on a lot of things.

And now we’re closing out 2008 while facing a season of extreme uncertainty in our financial world.

A new season is upon us and it is a challenging time, fearful for many. As human beings it is our nature to avoid pain, but without anything to push against, we build no muscle. In this regard, fear can be a valuable ally.

By conquering crisis, we can find that hero within. If you think back to those times when you conquered challenges and what you learned from them, you will recognize that you had an opportunity to sculpt your soul. You experienced a cycle of growth.

This new season feels like winter doesn’t it? The days are dark and it seems this time in our lives will last forever, frozen in time. But don’t forget that life has cycles, just like the seasons. After winter comes spring, a time of growth and renewal.

Crisis isn’t new. We’ve come through other troubled times such as The Great Depression and two World Wars. Other seasons. Other times.

We can’t necessarily control these events, but we can control what they mean to us. We can decide what we will do with it, what perspective we will take. We can participate in our own rescue.

There are 5 steps you can take to deal with a crisis.

Make a decision The word decision means to cut off from. When you can find meaning in the experience you make the decision to not let the external world hold you hostage. When you get to that point where you say “Enough!”, that is the point where you take back your power.

Loss in the external world can’t take away your internal world. You can rebuild that by focusing on what you can do to find a sense of purpose. What can you do to contribute to a sense of connection in your world? How do you do that?

Be resourceful Fear is always there, so face it. When it brings us to a point of anger and overwhelm it is a call to action. Something is telling us that THIS is not good enough for us and it is time for a change. There are two ways to be resourceful.

1. Get physical. Fear is physical. So is faith, courage and empowerment. We use our body in a specific way in each of these states. When you are in a state of fear your brain is being held hostage. You can’t deal with fear in your mind. Emotion is created by motion.

Do a workout. Take a power walk. Do something to take yourself out of the state of hiding. Exercise changes physiology and again, emotion is created by motion. When you change your physiology you can change your mind in a heartbeat. Don’t do it once! Make it a ritual during this crisis. Attack the crisis. Will you think about fear? Or faith? What are you feeding your mind?

2. Feed your mind with what will strengthen you. We are what we consume mentally. Whatever we focus on continuously we feel. Eventually we hit a tipping point, the emotional storm. Your brain becomes frozen.

Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. Focus on moments you remember that brought you excitement, joy, comfort and a sense of accomplishment. What we do is shaped by what we feel. It can change in a moment. Don’t let fear dominate you; it will cause you to freeze. Too much pain is the power of crisis; it causes you to do something. What can you do?

Create a vision Get clear about what is important to you. What is it you value? If you don’t know, think about what you desire the least. Get revved up about that and use that energy to turn it around to focus on what you do want.

Expand on your vision by finding an example of someone you admire who has been successful. Know that when someone succeeds consistently they’re not lucky, they’ve simply found a pattern that works.

Find a proven plan Success leaves clues. Model somebody who has made it through a crisis. How did they handle it? What steps did they take. What resources did they use? Because crisis has been done before, there is a pathway to power. Other people have found their way through it.

Take action Success is a matter of good judgment, which comes from experience. And guess what? Experience comes from bad judgment. A first plan usually fails, but the quicker you get to that stage the quicker you get your feedback and can move on to the next stage. If you don’t get off the fence you won’t get anywhere.

You don’t have to do this alone. Find a partner, someone who has knowledge or skills that complement yours. Keep each other accountable for the steps you are taking. Two heads are better than one.

Decisions control our life. This crisis will make us look for tools and we will become more resourceful. What we do is shaped by what we feel, and emotion is created by motion.

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Do you recall a time in your life when you went through a crisis? How did you support yourself?

Looking back, were you able to see how it changed the course of your life in a positive way?

What do you choose to see for yourself in the new year; the new season in your life?

Note: Credit for this post goes to one of my favourite life coaches, Anthony Robbins. I have transcribed this information from a recent 50-minute audio clip that is part of a series he has created called Learn How To Turn Crisis Into Opportunity. When you click this link on his website you will be prompted to leave your email address and you will be sent his FREE audio programs that include an interview with billionaire Sir John Templeton.

I highly recommend listening to Tony’s audio programs. His enthusiasm is contagious. Let’s spread it around!

Visit his website for more information. And as Tony says, “Live your life with passion!”

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“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” Mark Twain

I woke up feeling paralyzed with fear. After dragging myself to the kitchen for a glass of water I returned to bed. It was Sunday morning and I had nowhere to be.

I sat there trying to clear my head. The book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff lay beside me on the table. I looked away.

Sunshine through the curtains caught my eye and a lump rose in my throat.

I lost track of time, but eventually picked up the book and read 10 pages before putting it down. Fear burned in my core. I couldn’t concentrate. Sliding back down into bed I clutched a pillow and cried. They were empty tears.

What was I going to do? A year and a half after a job layoff here I sat, in the infant stages of business development, and in the middle of a worldwide financial crisis.

My savings were supposed to have lasted for two years after government assistance ceased. The decision to not take a part time job for the first year was a risk, but I was determined to give myself that time to focus.

During the last month my mutual funds had dropped $7,000. They had been dropping for months but not enough for concern. But, the last statement had ignited fire in the pit of my stomach. My calculator predicted that in another six months the money could be gone if the trend continued. I had a year less than planned and had to switch gears, fast!

It could be that sometimes your life needs a taste of drastic in order for you to get your act together.

I’d always been able to fall back on proofreading as an additional income stream but so far those contacts had fallen through. Messages were not returned. Replies that were received weren’t encouraging. I was making an effort but not getting results. I had to break the pattern of fear that was blocking things.

I love the above photo. It illustrates my feelings perfectly. I was shrouded in darkness and felt that there was no where to turn. The path was narrow and constricting and I felt trapped. There is a learning curve in all fearful states. But unless a person keeps moving they will never know what is around the next bend.

Bringing The Law Of Attraction Into Focus

After spending an evening working intently with the principles of the Law of Attraction, I received a message from a business associate the next day, asking me to help her out with a project. Faith was rekindled, but only briefly. I wasn’t trusting the process and my imagination had me on a dark, narrow road.

Positive thinking is a principle in the Law of Attraction. Days before this, I had made a list of things that made me feel happy and that I could appreciate; taking a long bath, reading, walking in nature and journalling.

This morning I had little hope these activities would help. Truth was, I didn’t want to do any of them.

I stayed in bed for another hour, turning away from the sunshine just outside my window. Then, after a deep breath, I was on my feet, running a bath. I still felt numb, but decided to have that bath and not expect it to help. Removing expectation made it easier.

I lingered in the bath. Things were still a bit foggy. It was lunch time. I had not eaten yet and all I wanted was oatmeal and coffee. Easy.

It was still sunny out and I decided to go for a walk. It was during this walk that I came alive! The fresh air, the sunshine and the connections I made through smiles from strangers along the way gave me the motivation to keep going. I walked away from the fear. This walk usually takes an hour but on this day it felt timeless. I was myself again by the time I returned home.

Inspired, I continued working on goals without fear clouding my vision. I sat down and ask myself, “What am I afraid of asking for because I don’t believe it’s possible?” I told myself to dream big.

Within a half hour I had completed a mind map. My vision resonated strongly.

Inspired action is another principle of the Law of Attraction. The test is to be able to hold this focus despite the ups and downs in the outer world. This makes it unconditional and free of attachment to outcome.

My path was clear again. I still had decisions to make and things were not certain, but I had my faith back. These are the steps I took:

I held my faith by practicing positive thinking and appreciation. I reaffirmed my intent and didn’t become attached to the outcome. This naturally allowed the space for inspired action that fed the cycle even further.

In Richard Carlson’s book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, he says “To combat fear, the best strategy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present.” That is easier said than done in some cases. My recommendation is that when you feel paralyzed by fear, take some action.

By practicing the things you know bring satisfaction and comfort, you will inadvertently bring your attention to the present. Don’t focus on the outcome even if these things feel hopeless. Do them anyway! If one doesn’t work don’t give up. Do another. Just keep moving. Stay in one place and the fear will hold you there.

Most importantly, by reconnecting through the foundation that supports and builds your trust despite the fear, you won’t be stuck in that perpetual cycle of being afraid of fear itself.

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Stay tuned for my next post Step Out Of Crisis And Into Power where this process is discussed in even greater detail. See you next Thursday.

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The drumming had stopped and my awareness returned to the moment at hand. An indigo canvas was stretched across the sky, painted with trillions of glittering stars. The moon, a glowing silver crescent, hung low on the horizon.

I looked down at my bare feet standing in the cold, dewy grass; it was soothing. The drumming started again and we employed our rattles in unison. We started singing as our footsteps fell into a gentle rhythm, forming a circle around the fire.

I was reminded of earlier that day when we had gathered wood for this fire. We sang then too, our voices entangled with the shimmering heat waves that rose from the ground on that hot, sunny afternoon. When the time came to build the fire, each log was offered with a prayer for the Earth and all her creatures: the 4-leggeds, the winged creatures, the whales and the dolphins. The tree people and the stone people were included in the ceremony, among many, many others seen and unseen.

When I was a child growing up on a farm in Northern Ontario, black clouds on the horizon stirred a certain excitement in me. I tingled with anticipation of what was to come.

Everything came alive in a thunderstorm. The sky flashed with explosive lightning. The farmhouse shook with each rumble of thunder. Torrential rain pounded on the roof, drumming up a rhythm that sent shivers up and down my spine. The trees swayed wildly in heavy gusts of wind, so vulnerable and at the mercy of the storm, that I feared they would snap in two.

As I grew older I continued to enjoy those thunderstorms and came to appreciate that stillness before the storm where the dark clouds hung heavy in the distance, offering the perfect backdrop for a dazzling lightning bolt. The world grew still. Waiting. The birds listened. The wind paused, leaving the trees poised in preparation for the dance.

Upon the storm’s arrival, that stillness surrendered and the world exploded with a magical display of unrehearsed expression. Then, silence. Golden silence. It was that golden silence that spoke of having surrendered to something greater than yourself.

I used to imagine that this was the same as feeling safe in the “eye of the storm”. But, the eye of the storm is more accurately described as the area of calm winds and clear sky that hold the space at the centre of a hurricane or tropical storm.

Realistically, it is a place suspended in time and space, caught between the past and in anticipation of the future, surrounded by stormy walls. It is the illusion of being in a safe place. But, to leave that supposedly safe place you must weather the storm and break through the boundaries.

I have spent my life building a safe place for myself. That old farmhouse, built from stone, definitely felt like a safe place to a little girl. It stood on 300 acres of land, surrounded by forest, fully secluded from the world.

We basked in the summer heat, harvesting hay and tending the gardens, and we froze in sub-zero temperatures, trudging through 4-foot high snowdrifts to do chores in the barn. Some nights it got so cold that the butter hardened on the kitchen table and the water in toilet bowl grew a thin layer of ice. Grandma would rise at 5 am to light the fire in the fireplace and the kitchen was toasty warm by the time we awoke. It was a place of magical moments and acceptance of the outer world; thunderstorms and all.

When my family moved to the city, for the first week I hardly came out of my room. As a very sensitive young girl and afraid of the world, I built imaginary walls around myself for protection. I built those walls as strong as the stone walls of the farmhouse that I remembered so well. I had my safe place; safe but uncomfortable. I knew subconsiously that I was surrounded by an outer world that wasn’t always a calm and sunny place.

In hindsight, I believe much of the discomfort came from denying my spirit the adventure and excitement of life. To always stay in that safe place meant constantly watching and anticipating that dark cloud in the distance. Never experiencing that magical energy of the storm and that feeling of peaceful stillness that follows.

It’s the space between the moments of life that soothe and nurture the spirit. But to experience the spaces, you have to live the moments. Then and only then will silence be golden, and will you have found the true Eye of the Storm.